Lufthansa Cargo started the week celebrating its first cooperation flights with ITA Airways on 16-17JUN25. What was previously communicated by CargoForwarder Global, became reality that day as a total of four ITA Airways flights departed from South America with Lufthansa Cargo shipments on board, and headed for Rome-Fiumicino (FCO). First up was flight AZ 681 from Buenos Aires (EZE), followed by AZ 675 and AZ 679 from São Paulo (GRU), and rounded off with flight AZ 673 from Rio de Janeiro (GIG). All four arrived in the early hours of Tuesday, 17JUN25, and were ceremoniously greeted by Lufthansa Cargo employees and a delegation from Aeroporti di Roma.
Despite all the excitement, the original press release did not include any quotes to mark the occasion, so it is unclear as to who made up the Lufthansa Cargo welcoming party and what their thoughts were. Its LinkedIn page revealed that the shipments on board of all flights were mainly general cargo, along with pharmaceuticals and perishables. And it made sure to include “A huge thank you to the teams on both sides for making this happen and ensuring smooth first operations!”
With that, the first phase of the Lufthansa Cargo – ITA Airways cooperation has been properly kicked off, placing Rome firmly into the German airline’s freight network as its fifth cargo hub. It awaits further regulatory approvals and will then expand its belly-capacity marketing services to all other routes in the ITA Airways network.
One of the first customers to use the new routings was JAS Worldwide, booking its shipments together with the airline’s ‘Sustainable Choice’ Add-on Service, therefore offsetting its CO2 footprint by way of Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
